Blank-feeding device



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W. W. MINER.

BLANK PEBDING DEVICE. No. 488,084. Patented Dec. 13, 1892.

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Ntra TATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM W. MINER, OF NEW HAVEN, ASSIGNOR TO THE NEW PROCESS NAIL COMPANY, OF TORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

BLANKJEEDING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 488,084, dated December 13, 1892.

Application filed Tune 11, 1892.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. MINER, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Blank- Feeding Devices; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in blank-feeding devices.

The object of lthe invention is to provide devices which will be simple and economical in construction and will be adapted to feed headless blanks to a heading, swaging, screwthreading, or other machine. l

With these ends in view the invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a blank, and Figs. 2 and 3 are views in vertical section of the feeding device.

A represents a blank consisting of a short length of round wire. The object of the improved feeding device is to automatically feed such blanks to the guide or trough, from which they are fed to any suitable machine to be operated upon.

In Figs. 2 and 3, B represents a hopper having ainclined bottom a and inclined sides. (Not shown.)

C D represent two vertically-reciprocating feeding slides or bars. These slides are reciproeated in opposite directions, so that when one has reached the limit of its'upward movement the other will have reached the limit of its downward movement. I have noty illustrated devices for reciprocating the slides, as it will be evident that this may be done by many different arrangements of gearing or motion-transmitt-ing devices.

In Fig. 2 slide C is represented in its lowest position and with the highest point of its beveled or inclined end f flush with or slightly Serial No. 436,367. (No model.)

below the upper surface of the inclined bottom of the hopper. In this position the blanks A may roll onto the inclined end f, which may be wide enough to hold two, three, or more blanks. As the slide C rises, the slide D descends, and when they have been carried to the position illustrated in Fig. 2 the blanks on the inclined end f of slide C will roll oft and onto the inclined end g of slide I). The slides will continue their movement until both slid es have reached the limit of their movement, when they will be moved in the opposite direction,and the slide D will carry the blanks which were deposited on its inclined end g until the latter is moved to the position illustrated in Fig. 2, when the blanks will roll off from the end g onto the inclined shelf or support h, and from thence will roll into the vertical feed trough or guide I, from which the blanks are taken by any suitably-constructed jaws and fed to the machine to be operated upon.

J represents a view in cross-section of lthe shank of suitable gripping-jaws which serve as an abutment to retain the blanks in the feed trough or guide. The shank .I reciprocates at right angles to the feed-trough and when moved to the limit of its travel in one direction allows one of the" blanks to drop between a pair of jaws, by which it is grasped. When the shank is moved in the opposite direction, it serves to prevent the blanks remaining in the trough from dropping out. Should a blank lodge on the end ofthe slide C in an upright position, it will when the slide is raised fall back into the hopper. The

slides reciprocate sufficiently rapid to keep the trough I always filled.

As my improvement may be used in connection with so many different kinds of machines, I would have it understood that I do not wish to limit its use to any special purpose.

Having fully described my invention, Lwhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with a hopper and feedtrough, of two oppositely-reciprocating slides, In testimony whereof I have signed this one of which is arranged to descend into the specification in the presence of two subscmb-'Io blanks contained in lthe hopper, while the ing witnesses.

other is arranged to descend only to the 5 limit of the upward movement of the lower WILLIAM V MNER slide and to receive the blank from the latter Vitnesses: and carry it to and deliver it into the feed- JOHN N. BROOKS, trough, substantially as set forth. ALBERT SPERRY. 

